Aerobics are easy (take two)

Here's some more good news: of all the things we recommend that you do to make yourself Younger Next Year, I think that doing aerobic exercise is the easiest. Not on day one, maybe. On day one, it's all hell and there's nothing to be done about it. But after you do it for a couple of weeks, I predict you'll think of your four aerobic days as fun. For a couple of reasons.

First, of course...we're drugging you. There really is such a thing as the "runner's high," it has a real chemical basis and - Hooray! - it's a bit addictive. And you don't have to go crazy to make it work. Just hitting the elliptical machine (one of my favorites) or treadmill at a moderate pace does the job. When your heart rate gets up to 50% of your max (we'll explain later...for now, think a light sweat and heavy breathing), you can just chug along at that level for a sustained period and you're done.

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If, like me, you have the amazing good luck to like some aerobic sport like biking (my favorite) or rowing or jogging or cross country skiing, why you're golden. Because those things are way, way good fun.

I went out the door for a casual pop this amazing fall morning, here in the Berkshires and, before I knew it, had biked a quick 20 miles. Just too beautiful...too pleasant...to stop. Sounds goofy but it's not. You'll get there. But you have to do two things: